The Staff Committee wishes to inform the staff that over the past several weeks, the Staff Committee has had a series of discussions and an exchange of correspondence with the Acting Secretary General and several questions were raised that are of concern to the staff. In response to several of those questions, Ambassador Einaudi on 20 December 2004 sent a letter to the Committee which included the following explanations:

“1. Early Retirement and Contract Terminations

“With reference to your “preocupacion que posiciones que han quedado vacantes, debido al retiro voluntario de algunos funcionarios de la Secretaria General, estan siendo llenadas con personal externo a la Organizacion”, please note that the policy which I have announced to all Department Directors, is that vacant posts will remain vacant until such time as I have reviewed and approved the revised program-budget for 2005. Once the budget has been forwarded to the Permanent Council, I will review each request for filling a vacant post on its own merits. For your information, I have made commitments for filling three positions of trust in January 2005. None are positions vacated through retirement of career staff.

“2. Reduction in Force (RIF) and Placement of Personnel

“Regarding the reduction of personnel owing to the reorganization and redistribution of functions in the General Secretariat, at the present time, I am aware of two cases of career staff members who are potentially affected. In both cases, the supervisor has taken great pains to identify multiple placement possibilities and to recommend these individuals for placement. As a formal reduction in force has not been declared, we have been endeavoring, as has been our practice in the past, to resolve these matters on an individual basis through negotiation and discussion. If we are not successful in this effort, a formal RIF will be declared to review these and any other cases which might arise. In anticipation of this, I shall be sending you under separate cover a letter recommending the appointment of new RIF Committee, together with an Executive Order modifying Staff Rule 110.6.(k) to conform to the new structure. In the meantime, let me assure you that we continue to review placement options for the affected individuals. Furthermore, if any of the vacancies which are advertised currently for competition or those opened for competition in the next six months are filled with non-career staff, the offers of appointment will contain explicit language stating that the offer will be rescinded and that the position will be treated as a vacancy should it be necessary to place a RIFed career staff member in that post. You may recall that in response to similar concerns raised by the Staff Association between 1996 and 1998, such language was used in new contracts to protect the rights of career staff members whose posts were either eliminated or scheduled for elimination.

“3. With reference to the issues you raised on the restructuring of the Organization, the budgetary deficit, salaries and benefits, a special assembly of the staff of the General Secretariat might indeed be both necessary and useful… To assist you in your considerations, please find attached the text of the near final version of the Message from the Acting Secretary General which will accompany the budget which, in keeping with AG/RES. 2059, is to be presented to the Permanent Council by the latest January 31, 2005.” The Staff Committee is pleased to refer you to the message of the Acting Secretary General posted in the Intranet under Restructured Program Budget 2005, http://www.oas.org/budget/default.asp 

On 6 January 2005 the Staff Committee met with the Acting Secretary General and delivered a letter requesting that the process of issuing Continuing Contracts be activated. In the meeting, the Committee emphasized the importance for the staff on moving forward with the competition and also indicated that there are more than 50 staff members already pre-qualified, meaning that the only parts of the process missing are the final interview and recommendation. Reply to our letter is pending.

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